Tendrisa Eldsen-A Dark Brotherhood Tale
by Aranden1
Summary: Story time! Tendrisa Eldsen is a Dark Elf that fled Morrowind after her mother got killed. After receiving a letter from a courier, she starts adventuring like her mother had always wanted her to, but when someone pushes her too far, she lashes out. Will she finally be able to live the life she's wanted? Rated T to be safe. Strong language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

All right, so new author new story. Could be a good match, I don't know. Anywho, I was reading a fanfiction the other day, and became pretty much obsessed with it, so my friend encouraged me to write, so I thought 'why the heck not?' But, I do realize that I am never going to be as good with some of the writer out there. But I might as well try, right? Right. This is a story about a lovely Dark elf named Tendrisa Eldsen, who finds herself in a group/cult of assassins. This story is set in the time of the Oblivion Crisis, but it's about the Dark Brotherhood. (yay) Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

><p>Prologue<p>

-T-

My mother had always told me that I was going to successful. Obviously she meant I was going to be some kind of adventurer or something, giving to the poor, helping the needy, and so on. She had wanted me to move to Cyrodiil when I became of age and wanted nothing more than to see her only child become successful, in whatever path she chose.

My father on the other hand doesn't see me the same way my mother does. He keeps saying that I'll just end up getting married and having children and that would be it. Just like my mother.

My mother and I have always had a special bond, she was the one taught me how to hold a bow, a sword and how to use magic. Not my father. She taught me what plants or ingredients were poisonous and which weren't, she taught me how to make helpful potions out of them, my father did not. If I become half the woman my mother is, I'll be fine.

But, before I get into anymore details, let me introduce myself. I'm Tendrisa Eldsen, a Dunmer born in Morrowind, and is now living on the border of Morrowind on the road to Cyrodiil. Our family isn't rich, and I don't have a lot of friends. Or a lot of family, for that matter, except for my mother and my father.

Well, that's what it was before I moved to Cyrodiil and had a letter that changed my life forever.

It was an average day in Morrowind (about as average a day in that place can get), my mother and father were in the kitchen, my mother cooking, my father reading the newspaper. I hadn't really paid much attention to the headline of the newspaper that day until now. I probably should have. Things would have gone a lot more differently.

My mother had called me down for dinner, and I found myself sitting across from my father while my mother had left to get something. I started eating my food.

He lowered the newspaper to look at me, I ignored him.

"How are your lessons going?" he asked, he looked on edge.

"Good." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

He smiled. It was fake, I could tell.

"That's good." he folded the newspaper and set it aside before lacing his finger together and resting his hands on the wooden table.

"Tendrisa," he started, unsure of how to finish.

"Yeah?" I prompted, my mouth full of food, spitting it on him in the process. He wiped it off and frowned.

"You know that it's rude to talk with your mouthful, does your mother not teach you anything?" More than you do.

"Sorry father." I said, almost automatically, swallowing my food and smiling.

"What is it?" I asked politely.

"You and your mother-"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash upstairs, I stood up quickly, making my way to the stairs to where my mother was. She was alone up there...

I glanced back at my father, who was smiling wickedly at me, but I ignored it, another big mistake, and carried on.

I reached my mother's room, and froze in the doorway, my mouth agape and my eyes wide. The window was wide open, somebody had broken in. But that wasn't what I was staring at.

In front of me stood a tall man, wearing shrouded black armour and a black hood. I couldn't see his face clearly, but I could see his pearly white teeth. He was smiling. I looked at the floor, at my mother, who was bleeding to death, a large slash across her chest, blood dripping from the dagger the hooded man was holding.

"Tend...risa..." she gasped.

The man placed a slender finger against his lips, as if to make her quiet. Then, he looked at me, smiled and looked down at my mother and without a moment's hesitation, slashed her throat, decapitating her.

I screamed a 'no', and took a step inside to help her, but froze up again. My mother had told me about a group of murderers, called the Dark Brotherhood, and I was almost completely certain that this man was a part of that group. I knew better than to walk in to that room, so I turned and ran downstairs, the same question spinning inside my head. 'What were they doing in Morrowind?'

I made it downstairs, and made for the front door, my father was nowhere to be seen. I ran to the front door and tried to open it. Locked.

I hit it with my fists repeatedly, screaming as loud as I could. I saw what that man did to my mother, I didn't want it to happen to me.

I heard the hooded man walk down the stairs, the floorboards creaking slightly against his weight. He was moving slowly, as if to scare me.

"Father!" I screamed at the door, hoping he would be close enough to hear me. It was no use. I turned quickly and looked around for something to use as a weapon, but it was too late, the hooded man stood in front of me. He grinned wickedly at me, before trying to slice me with his dagger, but I ducked quickly and the dagger hit the door. He grunted as I made my escape to the kitchen, surely there was a knife in there somewhere. The man was behind me I could feel it. I could feel the chill running down my spine, and the whispers in my head. It was strange, I couldn't feel my legs. Had he paralysed me?

Apparently he had not, because when he grabbed my by the neck, I could definitely feel it. He applied some pressure and I gagged, struggling to breath, I would be dead soon.

I looked at my killer's face, he could not be older than fifteen, maybe sixteen.

He was about to say something, but there was someone pounding against the door.

"Get that damn door open!" Someone yelled.

"I'm trying. It's locked."

"Move aside, let me try."

The door suddenly swung open and I was dropped, landing on my knees. The hooded man fled out the window as the guards ran in, weapons unsheathed.

"Look around, the murderer could still be in here!" One yelled, probably the Captain, to the others. Two ran upstairs, and two others approached me.

"Are you all right, child?" he asked in a soothing voice.

I started sobbing uncontrollably. Because of my mother? Because I was in shock? Because I was almost murdered? Or was it because there was a small chance that my father was the one that called them?

"It's all right, he won't hurt you any more."

"M...Mother... Please..." I tried to say 'I want my mother to come back. Please', but I couldn't because I was crying so much.

"Sir, there's one upstairs, looks like the assassin got her before we arrived."

-T-

Fifteen years later, I was living in Cyrodiil. Moving from inn to inn, I didn't have a house of my own. I wasn't an adventurer, like my mother had wanted me to be. I was just... bored.

I sat down, staring into my empty glass.

"You all right, miss?" the innkeeper asked.

I nodded slowly.

He handed me a sealed envelope and a bag of gold. "A courier dropped by and told me to give you this."

I opened the envelope.

'_Tendrisa Eldsen, I regret to inform you of your father's death. He had succumbed to an illness, and has left you 400 gold._'

I didn't even bother reading the rest of the letter, I was so happy.

"Good news, then?" the innkeeper asked as he cleaned my empty glass.

"Great news." I said, smiling for the first time in fifteen years.

* * *

><p>*Dramatic music* OKay so, crappy prologue, but it will get better, I promise. If not, well... you can take Skyrim away from me. TOO MUCH PRESSURE!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Characters, events and everything else belong to Bethesda, the only thing I own are my own characters. Enjoy

* * *

><p>Chapter One: Murder<p>

-T-

So I began adventuring. My father was dead now, I can do whatever I want. Well, I guess I could so whatever I wanted anyway, but my father dying was exactly the kind of closure I needed. I was on the road to Skingrad, it was a nice day, so I walked, it wasn't far from the Imperial City anyway.

On the way, I started thinking about my mother, and the hooded man. He was very young, it's hard to believe that he was an assassin. But, hopefully, he's forgotten about me or given up, because I haven't been attacked by the Dark Brotherhood ever since.

Let's hope that doesn't change.

-T-

I had arrived in Skingrad where a small Bosmer approached me.

"Hey you there, meet me behind Great Chapel of Julianos at night." he said in a hushed frantic tone.

"Pardon me?"

He shushed me. "No questions. They're watching. Listening to us as we speak." he said, his eyes darting between the citizens of Skingrad.

"Who's watching exactly?"

"I'll tell you everything tonight just meet me behind the Chapel tonight and we can discuss it further." he said, "I'll pay you." he added as I was starting to lose interest.

I nodded and walked past him, my father hadn't given me much to live on, so I suppose I could use this paranoid wood elf to get money. Not exactly an adventure, but it's a starting point.

I smiled and walked into a tavern not far from my meeting point. I rented a room and sat down on the chair that had been pointing to the window. I opened a book and started to read.

-T-

It was midnight and I was behind the Chapel, as instructed, freezing my ass off for some elf. Eventually, the Bosmer arrived, dark circles under his eyes, it was clear that whoever was watching him was worrying him deeply.

"Good, you came. I'm Glarthir, listen, I need your help. You're obviously not one of them, so I can trust you. They're all watching me. Waiting to strike."

"They're trying to kill you?" I asked, eyes wide with shock. "Who are they?"

"Bernadette Peneles, Toutius Sextius and Davide Surilie." Normal Imperial names, it seems.

"They're all watching me, following. I know it. I need you to spy on them, see if they're working against me. I know they are"

"How much gold is in it for me?" I asked.

"A lot, a lot of gold." he said, nodding his head.

"You have a deal." I said, shaking his hand. This guy is obviously just paranoid. But, I'll check it out just in case, it's what mother would have wanted.

-T-

I had followed all three of them the following day, I had gotten bored of following Bernadette Peneles, so I followed Toutius Sextius, nothing to report there, and Davide Surilie wasn't suspicious either. I guess, I'm not going to get as much coin I could have gotten.

Unless, I tell them that they are plotting against him, get the gold, wait for him to go home and kill him, making it look like an accident, and then... Wait. Murder? I would never... That's not right. I could go to jail, I-

But, if I make it look like an accident, I won't get fingered as the suspect... In fact, if I play my cards right, the other three could get blamed too and I could leave Skingrad. The guards would never suspect a thing, and I can walk away a rich woman.

I smiled. This is going to be fun. Besides, this is an adventure, right mother? Right.

With that, I went to Glarthir's house, the door was locked, but I knew a spell that could easily open it. Poor fool.

I crouched as lowly as I could, skulking around the living room, but no Glarthir. Probably asleep. I walked slowly upstairs, hoping that the floorboards wouldn't creak. Then, I thought back to that night... No Tendrisa, you mustn't think about your mother, concentrate!

Surely enough, Glarthir was asleep in his bed. His eyelids fluttered as he tossed and turned. Probably having nightmares.

I pulled out my small dagger, tiny little thing, my dagger is, but I didn't really have much of a choice, the only other weapon I had was a bow, and that wasn't going to be useful. Maybe I could buy another weapon with all the coin I'll make. I stood up next to his bed and hands above my head, ready to plunge the knife into his throat. At that moment, he woke up, eyes wide in horror. The only words he could manage before death were 'you', before I brought the knife down into his throat, he died almost instantly. Luckily, the blood didn't spray on me, just the sheets.

On his beside table sat a book, a diary by the looks of it. Glarthir's diary. I opened it and started to read. It was a log on the 'conspiracy' everyone was planning. The names of the three people Glarthir had me follow were written in the book. Perfect. No-one will suspect a thing. As I placed the book down, I felt a cold chill go down my spine. I chill that I knew all too well. It was similar to that chill I had gotten all those years ago. But, this time it was stronger, as dangerous as this chill felt and the overwhelming feeling of something watching me, I felt a strange sense of love and trust. I looked behind me, and found nothing lurking in the shadows.

As I made my way back to Cyrodiil, I looked over my shoulder every so often, thinking about the Dark Brother hood.

'It is said that the Dark Brotherhood comes to you at night after you murder someone, and offer you a place amongst the ranks of murderers.'

On my way to the Wawnet Inn in Weye, just west of the Imperial City, I hoped that these rumours were just rumours and not the truth.

-T-

I was greeted by a High Elf named Nerussa, who offered me a room for 10 septims, which I paid with Glarthir's money that I had taken after I killed him.

"Head upstairs and look for the last door on your right. Sleep well." she said, smiling at me.

I thanked her and was about to retire to my room, but I stopped and leaned close to her, keeping my voice down. "What do you know about the Dark Brotherhood?" I asked.

She looked shocked that I had asked, but she answered anyway.

"Not much, just that they're very selective with their recruitment. You'll have to be contacted by one directly. But I think it's just a myth. I know the Dark Brotherhood is real, but I don't think that they would recruit people like that." she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Thanks." I said, smiling before going to my room.

As I got into bed and pulled the sheets over me, I felt that same chill run down my spine again, and the room got cold very quickly, I got up and checked that the window was locked. Once confirmed that it was, I grabbed my dagger and went back to sleep. I hadn't cleaned it. Glarthir's blood was still on the blade.

-T-

I woke up from my nightmare, waving my right hand wildly, hoping to hit whatever was there with my dagger. I opened my eyes fully when I realized I didn't have it.

"Looking for this?" A soothing voice asked from the corner of my room. I sat up quickly, pulling the sheets up to my chin, a habit from my childhood, and looked at the male intruder.

He was dressed clad in black. A long, floor-length robe, a pair of black boots barely visible in the lack of light. The man was wearing black gloves too over long, slender fingers, which were dangling my bloody dagger in the air. The man also had a hood, it was pulled back to reveal long brown hair scraped into a ponytail. His eyes were brown too, but were dark all the same. He had a wide smile spread across his lips.

I sat there, dazed, staring at this man, sitting in the chair in the corner, sitting so casually, you would have thought we were old friends. He continued to look at me, then he looked back at the dagger and pulled it closer to him, wiping the blood from it with a cloth that he pulled out as if from no where. He grabbed the dagger by the hilt after it was cleaned and put the cloth back to where he found it. He held the dagger as if he owned it, but looked down at it in disgust and shook his head.

Then, as if suddenly remembering that I was still there, he looked up.

"You sleep rather soundly... for a murderer."


End file.
